Budget approval would end Moreland Commission, Cuomo says

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday said he would shut down his anti-corruption investigation panel if lawmakers approve new ethics measures in the state budget, which will be up for a vote beginning Monday.

In a conference call with reporters Saturday, Cuomo said he's satisfied with the ethics provisions in a budget agreement with legislative leaders, which would toughen anti-bribery laws, create a new crime of corrupting the government, create a new investigative position in the Board of Elections and launch a pilot program for public campaign financing with the comptroller's race this year.

The Moreland Commission, a committee of mostly sitting district attorneys investigating corruption in the Legislature, was created by Cuomo last year after lawmakers failed to agree on a ethics package following a string of lawmaker arrests.

"If this package is adopted, then I would end the Moreland Commission," Cuomo told reporters.

Cuomo's January budget proposal included $270,000 for "contractual services" for the Moreland Commission. The panel issued a preliminary report last year and was due to issue a final report by the end of the year.

But both the Senate and the Assembly stripped that money in their own budget proposals, with Assembly Democrats and the Senate's majority coalition fighting against the Moreland Commission's legal authority in court.

The final budget agreement moved the money specifically allocated for the Moreland panel and moved it into a generic contracts fund within the governor's office.